Advent funds vital research into child cancer pain and neglected mental health

Improving the lives of child cancer survivors

Thanks to advances in treatment, there is now an 80 per cent survival rate for childhood cancers. However, the long-term effects of treatment can be felt for many years. Pain is one of the most common symptoms in children with cancer, and even after treatment, over half of childhood cancer survivors report ongoing pain.

Despite the physical and psychological impacts of cancer treatment, researchers and clinicians know little about the causes and underlying mechanisms of pain experienced by children and young people – or the longer-term impact on their lives.

Improving pain management – Dr Sandrine Géranton, UCL

While pain can be a huge part of the journey for young people with cancer, there is limited data to help clinicians understand this pain and set appropriate guidelines for managing it.

For children, pain can result from the routine physical interventions of cancer management and treatments themselves. Stress is also known to enhance pain, where repeated hospital visits can contribute to the overall distress and pain experienced by children and young people.

Dr Sandrine Géranton and her team at UCL are investigating the impact of treatment and stress on young cancer survivors, by engaging directly with their families, while also studying mice in the lab to examine the impact of cancer management alone on pain.

Reducing the pain of neuroblastoma treatment – Dr Alexander Davies, University of Oxford

Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in children under five years old. An antibody therapy – ‘anti-GD2’ – has brought hope to those with the highest risk cases, helping children to survive longer. However, this treatment can be extremely painful for children, as the target of the antibody, GD2, is located on nerves throughout the body.

Dr Alexander Davies from the University of Oxford is investigating the extent to which the immune system is responsible for these nerve pain side effects. With this knowledge, he wants to re-design a neuroblastoma immunotherapy that will reduce the body’s immune mechanisms which cause pain, while still effectively targeting cancer.

Identifying the type and impact of chronic pain – Professor Suellen Walker, UCL

Many children and young people who have been treated for blood cancer, such as leukaemia or lymphoma, report experiencing chronic pain long after treatment.

Professor Suellen Walker and a specialist team from UCL are inviting patients from Great Ormond Street Hospital to participate in a study, where they will distribute questionnaires and carry out specialised tests to assess the type and severity of pain. The team will also look at the impact of this pain on physical activity, sleep, fatigue, emotions, and ability to think clearly and quickly.

Professor Walker and her team are aiming to identify measures that will highlight chronic pain-related difficulties at earlier stages in a patient’s journey. This work will help to bring about earlier interventions, improving the journey of young patients dealing with cancer pain.

Addressing neglected areas of mental health

Mental health disorders account for at least 21 per cent of the UK disease burden, although this figure is likely to be much higher, due to reluctance to seek medical help for these conditions. In recent years, only 6 per cent of the UK’s health research budget was spent on mental health.

The level of mental health research funding in the UK is still not meeting the scale or impact of mental illness within the population, meaning people are not getting the support they need. In addition, the reasons why people experience mental health disorders are often complex and, despite their prevalence, still not well understood.

Improving the lives of adults with ADHD - Dr Amber John, UCL

Around 2.6 million people in the UK have ADHD. ADHD affects how the brain works, making it difficult to pay attention and control impulses. It has historically been viewed as a childhood condition, but research shows it frequently persists into adulthood.

In younger adults, ADHD is linked to increased physical and mental health problems, and poorer access to healthcare services. It is also linked to earlier death and high healthcare costs. Despite this, adults aged over 50 with ADHD have been overlooked in research.

Dr Amber Johns and her team at UCL will interview adults aged over 50 with ADHD to understand the mental and physical challenges they face, and potential solutions. The researchers will also evaluate talking therapy services for people with ADHD who have anxiety or depression and examine the influence of age on this support. Ultimately, they want to improve the lives of people with ADHD, so that they receive the support they need over the entirety of their lives.

Trauma and mental health: understanding the role of cortisol - Dr Hannah Jones, University of Bristol

Stressful or traumatic events can increase the risk of developing a range of mental health problems, but the reasons for this are not well understood.

The way the body responds to stress could be one reason for the link between trauma and mental health. Evidence shows that experiencing severe or ongoing stressful events can lead to abnormal levels of a hormone called cortisol, which has been linked to depression, anxiety, psychosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, findings are mixed, and results are hard to compare.

Cortisol measured in hair is believed to be a more reliable measure of stress response, showing cortisol levels over months instead of from a single time in the day. Dr Hannah Jones will study a large group of children over their lifetime to better understand if abnormal cortisol levels (measured via their hair), caused by early-life stress, result in poor mental health. This will help researchers to develop new treatments, aimed at stress response in people with trauma-related mental health problems.

Providing tailored mental health support for people with autism and ADHD - Dr Beth Oakley, King’s College London

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting around one per cent of people in the UK. Up to 70 per cent of autistic people experience mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression, far higher than rates of mental health problems in the general population. Dr Beth Oakley thinks a ‘chronic stress pathway’ could be a key contributor, through a combination of social factors (e.g., higher risk of experiencing bullying, stressful life events, trauma) and biological differences (e.g., in how the brain responds to stress).

To test this theory, Dr Oakley and her team will aim to establish individual differences in anxiety and depression symptoms in autistic people and those with ADHD, and then investigate risk factors for anxiety and depression symptoms, and factors that promote good mental health. The aim is to predict an individuals’ likely mental health outcomes more accurately, and the factors that influence these outcomes, which is important for designing and delivering better treatments.

Dr Angela Hind, our Chief Executive, said: “We’re extremely grateful to the whole Advent team for their remarkable fundraising efforts. Thanks to them, our researchers can make the discoveries needed to provide a better quality of life, both for child cancer survivors and people with neglected mental health conditions.”

Candy Ip, Director, Advent, said: “We partnered with the Medical Research Foundation due to the strength of their research grants and fellowships. After rigorous due diligence, we were impressed by their high professional standards and commitment to funding the most impactful research. We’re already seeing the impact of our donations, enabling ground-breaking pain research in children, and studies into overlooked areas of mental health.”